Middle Eastern business and political leaders meet at the World Economic Forum by the Dead Sea in Jordan this weekend to confront the most serious economic crisis in a generation. Oil prices have fallen dramatically from last year’s highs affecting government budget balances and the remittances on which many ordinary people in the Middle East depend.

 The International Monetary Fund has said that growth in Middle East oil exporting countries as a whole is likely to slow to 2.3 per cent this year from 5.4 per cent last year, before rebounding modestly in 2010. The Fund believes that real gross domestic product in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, three of the richest states in the Middle East, will shrink this year because of lower oil prices and production.